


Chapter Nine: The Warrior Inside

by CavalierConvoy



Series: MTMTE Series One: Shoot Straight with a Crooked Gun [10]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers Generation One, Transformers Generation Two, Transformers: Beast Machines, Transformers: Beast Wars
Genre: Atheism, Bromance, Drinking & Talking, Gen, Lab Bromance, Other, Quests, Religious Discussion, Weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-02-11
Packaged: 2018-03-11 22:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3335675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CavalierConvoy/pseuds/CavalierConvoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Magnus taking over the investigation over Red Alert's attempted suicide, Artemis and Trailcutter are sidelined to do what they do best: get drunk, at least until Perceptor calls Artemis in to discuss the new "toy" Brainstorm made for her....</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chapter Nine: The Warrior Inside

 

Crushed by the thought that you're all alone, cravation in her eyes,  
I will be waiting tomorrow,  
Striving to understand, wasting a life not meant to be,  
Twisted and so broken once again,  
And the promises we cast away will shine a guiding light,  
Victim of your grief and denial.

—["The Warrior Inside"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRVM32ULWlo) by Dragonforce, from _Ultra Beatdown_

The _Lost Light_  
Now

"Who would do that to Red?" Artemis pondered. She and Trailcutter were at the observation deck. Grapple declined; said he wanted to be alone. They reminded him that they would be available if he needed company. Hoist, upon hearing of his friend's distress, opted to stay with Grapple, assuring the two that he would contact them if they were ready to socialise.

"What if he saw something he shouldn't?" Trailcutter questioned.

"Like what? I mean, most of us are of questionable repute, but nothing to warrant offing our chief of security. The worst thing I can think of is if, barring another incident like what happened with Fort Max and Rung, that is...frag! There's too many variables to factor." Artemis leaned forward, the drained can of V7 dangling between her fingers. "What do we know?"

"He sent us on an errand to keep us distracted."

"Not confirmed, but it's a possibility." Artemis tossed the can in the growing pile of its fellow fallen soldiers, then claimed another from the box. "Knowing Red, there's always an ulterior motive."

"I thought you were going to leave the investigation to Magnus," Trailcutter grinned.

"Can't stop thinking about it," she admitted. "Red went through the trouble of creating alibis in Perceptor and Brainstorm if this was a distraction. Even wanted us to report to him about the bootlegger holds."

"But it was sloppy," Trailcutter countered. "He might say outwardly that we're frag-ups, but reality? He knows — knew — we can piece two and two together — you especially. The bit with the cameras, using low-yield fuel cells, giving us only enough information to ask the right people...it doesn't make sense!" He groaned, tossing his spent can in with the others.

"What about Cyclonus?" Artemis muttered, deadpan.

"What's his M.O.?" Trailcutter questioned.

"Nothing. Since coming on board, he's been more or less well-behaved. Maybe one Whirl's pranks gone too far?"

"Alibis — Rewind, Tailgate, and Skids, to name the big ones."

"Besides, it only seems coincidental we're sent on a small-scale investigation on one end of the ship and he's found in the reservoir. I wonder how long he had been there? Couldn't have been long; we were out, what, two, three megacycles?" A ping at her hip; Artemis took her comm unit and checked the messages. "Perce wants to chat. I wonder if it's about the hammer."

"What hammer?"

"The one Brainstorm made me. I'm thinking as apology for the SB-Eleven incident."

"A-ha! I told you you're easily bribed! He knows how to get on your good side, Art! What did I tell you?"

"It's got a nice weight," she countered, standing whilst still focused on her comm. "Oh, and here's one from Magnus, in that font of his: _'In Response to Your Request, re: Stolen Fuel Cells.'_ Primus, that's just the subject line. Normal people would just hit the 'reply' button."

"What was your subject line?"

"' _Oi, handsome'_."

Trailcutter snorted. "And he actually opened it? It must be love...or optic-twitching, barely-contained tolerance."

"Better shoot him off a hold on that," Artemis composed a quick message without too many details, changing the subject to _"re: Oi, handsome"_ in the process. "Might be a false alarm, and that we'll talk after his current investigation," she explained. "Just to keep his mind on one crisis at a time."

"Probably should ask Percy to check on the fuel cells to see if any of them really are missing," he suggested. "We only took Red's word that they were missing, and Brainstorm might take the chance to sneak a few out just to cause trouble. You didn't find anything with Cav, did you?"

"No, but she's not completely out of the woods yet; she's a vent rat. She knows how to travel through the ship via the ducts. If there's cells missing, and the only use they have outside of powering the MARBs are flash-bangs, then she's our primary person of interest. And as much as I trust her on certain things, she can blatantly lie to Soundwave with an honest face if she believes what she's doing is for the greater good."

"That is, if they're missing."

"The other avenue is that they are missing, and Red took advantage of the situation to keep us distracted."

"You really are considering all the options."

"It's how I roll, 'Cutter. I'm going to talk to Perce."

He stood with a groan. "Need some back up?"

She shrugged. "Not a good night to be left alone, is it? I don't mind."

"Besides, I want to see this new hammer of yours. Never got to see you in action with the Forge."

"It wasn't all that exciting, truthfully. Something satisfying about crushing Legion heads in with an artifact older than Maximo himself, all while picturing the horror on Xaaron's face with every hit."

"You heretic."

"You say it like it was a bad thing."

Stashing the remainder of the engex lager in a hideaway hold en route, they were greeted by both Perceptor and Brainstorm in front of Perceptor's lab.

"What was I going to say? 'No, Perce, you can't witness the awesomeness of the new toy Brainstorm made me'?" Artemis beat the weapons engineer to the retort.

Brainstorm held up a finger, but bit back on whatever he was going to say. Instead, he shrugged. "I'll accept your argument."

"May I remind both of you the consequences of risking any of our personnel with unconventional weapons testing?" Perceptor bounced his gaze between Artemis and Brainstorm. "There are checks and balances in place, protocol to follow to ascertain the effectiveness and efficiency of such inventions, before they can even be considered for prototype production!"

"Checks and balances are useless if we can't test a working prototype first!" Brainstorm argued. "Certainly, something looks great on paper, but there are factors that cannot be predicted by figures alone! Progress must be observed in live testing!"

"Don't look at me," Artemis held up her hands, "it's got a trigger, I pull it."

"It's not like Brainstorm's asking the noncombatants to test them," Trailcutter pointed out. "He always goes with those who can handle or contain any -- wait, what am I saying? Why can't you at least hash out any dangerous issues before letting us test them?" This, he directed to Brainstorm.

"They're not always dangerous!" Brainstorm protested. "Some fail in comical effects."

"Okay, the meme bomb was pretty fraggin' hysterical," Artemis agreed. "I didn't know we had that many trumpets on board."

"You're not helping my case, Artemis," Perceptor warned.

"Getting a couple of fingers blown off in the name of science is a better past time than the alternative," Artemis rebutted. "It's voluntary, and we know and accept the dangers."

A sharp static pierced her audio receptors, a hard jab just above her right optic, a flare of her spark. As sudden the attack, it was over. She pressed a hand to cover her optics and shook her head.

"Art?" Trailcutter put a hand on her shoulder. "What happened?"

"I remembered the alternative," she grumbled, shaking her head. "I'm okay."

"And for the record, I had nothing to do with it," Brainstorm held out his hands in defence, his briefcase handle clenched in his right fist.

"I didn't say it was. But back to the reason why you called me down...?" This, she directed to Perceptor.

"The first was to echo sentiments shared with our medical team, specifically Ratchet," Perceptor stressed, "in that testing unconventional weapons without proper safeguards in place risk not only our crew, but also could potentially incapacitate, whether temporarily or permanently, our front line of defence, as, might I point out, those testing said weapons are also our, to use the colloquial term, 'heavy hitters'."

"So what's wrong with the hammer?" Artemis questioned.

Perceptor sighed. "Nothing is 'wrong' with the hammer. In fact, I -- " he stopped himself, glancing over to Brainstorm, who was leaning forward, optics eager to hear the review. Perceptor sighed, rolled his optics, and continued. "Utilising the on-board equilibrium adjustment to store kinetic energy in a high-yield battery; the energy grid in place uses an adequate lattice system to maintain coherency in the electromagnetic field for expandable function and discharge; all principles are based in solid close-range and melee-range combat theory and weapons design; the anti-disarm function is also a ... fascinating ... addition, using a — dare I say within audio range of its inventor — ambitious tag on spark-signature. In conclusion, I could not find fault with the overall design and function."

Brainstorm was elated. "I'm so glad you approve of my theory! Perhaps we could utilise more of the concept for others! To think, a crossbow which only Atomiser could use! Oh, the possibilities! Back to work!" He gave the others a wave before running down the corridor.

"Bad idea," Artemis and Trailcutter interrupted together. Perceptor groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, before handing the hammer to the black and chrome Autobot.

"Please consider my warning, Artemis," he stressed, releasing the weapon. "I am telling you this because I, too, see the importance of keeping our defence at peak performance." He leaned forward, keeping his voice low. "There are those who produce weapons to secure peace; there are others who do such only to create conflict. We have spent enough time with one another to know where you stand on the moral grounds, and enough that I recognise your need to find ways to better serve the cause. I've walked that corridor myself. But please, be more discriminatory when considering what to add to your arsenal."

She closed her right fist, but nodded. "I'll keep your suggestion in mind, Perce. Thank you."

"So that's it?" Trailcutter questioned as they parted company with Perceptor. "Looks like a normal sledge hammer."

"Brainstrorm made it; do you think it's normal?" Artemis chortled, attaching it to the magnetic holster on her back, ready to draw under her right hand.

"So, this is going to be a strange and out-in-the-star-field question, but I've been thinking," Trailcutter initiated. "With the whole Knights of Cybertron, the Guiding Hand, the Thirteen...and you're an atheist...?"

"Hard to gauge that, 'Cutter," Artemis smirked. "I'm more of an anti-theist. I've witnessed figures in the past be elevated to godhood by myth and legend. I know these so-called gods existed. Whether or not they were is up to debate, but I don't see them as such. If those could be knocked back down to reality, to the historical aspect, if they were real to begin with -- that's where I belong. I kill gods."

"That...was blunt."

"Blunt and sarcastic, that's me."

"Hey, Art?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

She shrugged. "Comes and goes. I was in a bad place with the Legion conflict. Not as bad as Max on G-9, but still bad. Slag got real. Perce reminded me of that -- not the pain, just the aftermath, that it was my friends who saved the sol, brought me back from the brink. And that's what I need to focus on. Want to know why a jaded atheist is doing on a holy quest? Because it isn't the gods and legends that's my focus -- it's you guys. Everyone with different views and different causes, but working together for a common goal. Seeing that...that's what drives me."

Trailcutter said nothing, but smiled.

Next Chapter: Close Friends

 


End file.
